Widower bishops

[Matthew Namee]

It seems to me -- and this may just be my perception -- that a high proportion of widowers who become bishops are good bishops, relative to their always-celibate counterparts. I am thinking of people like St. Innocent of Alaska/Moscow, St. Luke of Simferopol, and Metropolitan Leonty (Turkevich) of the OCA. Met. Leonty's predecessor, Met. Theophilus Pashkovsky, was also a widower, though I'm not sure how effective he was as a bishop. There have been others, obviously, but these examples immediately come to mind.

I'm curious to know a few things:

1) Can anyone think of other widower bishops in Church history (recent or otherwise), in particular saintly widower bishops?
2) Can anyone think of any bad widower bishops?
3) Are there any examples in recent times (say, 18th century to the present) of a married priest and his wife retiring to separate monasteries, and the priest becoming a bishop? I know this has happened in Church history, but I'm wondering if this practice has continued into more modern times.

I think this is a pertinent subject in that, at least here in America, there appears to be a shortage of quality celibate men to become bishops. I have heard people talk about re-instituting the married episcopate, but such an action would require a pan-Orthodox consensus, and I can't imagine that happening. Widower bishops (or married priests and their wives voluntarily separating for the good of the Church) seems to me to be the most feasible way to address this problem. I'd be interested to hear what others think.

[Nina]

It seems to me -- and this may just be my perception -- that a high proportion of widowers who become bishops are good bishops, relative to their always-celibate counterparts. I am thinking of people like St. Innocent of Alaska/Moscow, St. Luke of Simferopol, and Metropolitan Leonty (Turkevich) of the OCA. Met. Leonty's predecessor, Met. Theophilus Pashkovsky, was also a widower, though I'm not sure how effective he was as a bishop. There have been others, obviously, but these examples immediately come to mind.

I'm curious to know a few things:

1) Can anyone think of other widower bishops in Church history (recent or otherwise), in particular saintly widower bishops?
2) Can anyone think of any bad widower bishops?
3) Are there any examples in recent times (say, 18th century to the present) of a married priest and his wife retiring to separate monasteries, and the priest becoming a bishop? I know this has happened in Church history, but I'm wondering if this practice has continued into more modern times.


About bad widower bishops I can't speak. Since I am bad enough myself. Plus I do not know any.

I know a priest who has become a bishop. Bishop Ilia Katre. I have a high esteem for him.

[Father Anthony]

The present OCA Bishop of New England and the Albanian Diocese, Nikon is a widower/bishop. He was raised to the episcopacy roughly two years after becoming widowed. The departed Bishop George (+1997) of the GOA was also a widower, though unfortunately he did not live long after becoming a bishop. Just a couple other names for your list there Matthew.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

[Father Anthony]

Add one more to your list, (sorry still battling the flu and the brain is a little slow) Metropolitan Orestes (Chornock) the founding hierarch of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (Ecumenical Patriarchate). He was a married priest whose wife died in the middle of his diocese's struggle to separate from Rome. He was the only candidate for the episcopacy and successfully lead a number of former Byzantine Catholics into the Orthodox Church.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

[Father David Moser]

Among recent ROCOR bishops:

Bishop Nektary of Seattle was a widower and a living link to the line of Elders in Optina monastery.

Bishop Alexander of South America was a widower and though opinions of him are mixed, there is no doubt that the massive work that he left as his legacy (http://www.fatheralexander2.org/) is of unmatched value.

Fr David Moser

[Olga]

Several bishops who served in the Australian-New Zealand diocese of ROCOR were widowers. If I'm not mistaken, one of the metropolitans of ROCOR may have been a widower, though I'll need to confirm this.

(As an aside, I can recommend "A Russian Presence", a history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Australia, by Fr Michael Protopopov. As well as thoroughly documenting the history of the church, it has copious biographical information on clergy who have served the church, as well as other clergy, such as the Greeks, Arabs, Serbs and others who have supported the Russian church over the past century.)

[Michael Stickles]

Found two more for you:

Bishop Basil (Osborne) of Amphipolis (http://orthodoxwiki.org/Basil_(Osborne)_of_Amphipolis), the auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe. His wife died in 1991; he was consecrated as a bishop (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-13609926.html) under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1993. Looks like there is/was a bit of controversy regarding his move from the Moscow Patriarchate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Also, Patriarch Dymytry (Yarema) (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000323/ai_n14284292) of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, who was ordained Bishop of Pereyaslav and Sicheslaw in 1993. Not sure how long that was after his wife died, but it was four years after he was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church for seeking official recognition of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (this was still during the period of Soviet control). He reposed in 2000.

Mike

[Father David Moser]

Several bishops who served in the Australian-New Zealand diocese of ROCOR were widowers. If I'm not mistaken, one of the metropolitans of ROCOR may have been a widower, though I'll need to confirm this.

I cannot think of who that might be. Metr Anthony was the senior hierarch in Russia at the time. Metr Anastasii is the only one that I do not know enough about to say one way or the other with absolute certainty, but he was also a senior hierarch. Metr. Philaret was a lifelong monastic as was Metr Vitaly. And Metr Lavr has been living in the monastery since he was a young boy.

Fr David Moser